[media-credit name=”David Zalubowski, Special to The Denver Post” align=”aligncenter” width=”495″][/media-credit]

The 19th Street pedestrian bridge was the site for the Greenway Foundation's Gala on the Bridge.

Nothing against the Hyatt, Marriott and Seawell ballrooms; they’re great. But every now and then a party planner has to think out of the box and pick a locale that’s fresh and fun.

Which is exactly what happened when two of the Central Platte Valley’s biggest boosters, graphic designer Ellen Bruss and hubby Mark Falcone, founder and CEO of the Continuum Partners real estate development firm, agreed to chair an awards gala benefiting the Greenway Foundation.

They’re not afraid to make a statement, so they didn’t roll their eyes and say: “Oh, that’ll never work” when the foundation’s development director, Lisa May, suggested that the dinner be called Gala on the Bridge because it was going to be held — are you ready for this? — on a bridge. The 19th Street pedestrian bridge.

Aside from the cool factor, the location was especially meaningful because the man receiving the Friend of the River Award at the gala, Mark Smith, had a big hand in transforming the long-neglected land around it from something best described as urban blight to a thriving neighborhood filled with high-end residences, restaurants and shops.

As Greenway Foundation executive director Jeff Shoemaker explained: “Back in 1999, Mark Smith and East West Partners purchased all the land between 20th Street and Cherry Creek, along what would become Commons Park, where we are dining tonight. It took extraordinary vision and an unusual kind of courage to start building a high-end neighborhood in the Central Platte Valley, where there were only railroad tracks and abandoned warehouses.”

Smith, Shoemaker added, did much more than spiff things up. He created the Riverfront Park Community Foundation and PlatteForum, and is one of the leaders in an effort to have an elementary school built downtown. During his time in Vail, Smith started The Youth Foundation, which is now the largest organization serving kids in Eagle and Lake counties, serving 1,500 children per day.

“About 12 years ago I decided I wanted to do something for downtown Denver, and the next thing I knew, we owned 30 acres — 20 city blocks — of land that was in terrible shape,” Smith said as he accepted his award, a Rik Sargent bronze sculpture titled “One World One Water.”

The high regard in which Smith is held was evidenced by the fact that the gala was a sell-out, with guests including Gov. John Hickenlooper, Mayor Michael Hancock and a wonderful mix of Denver’s top business and civic leaders.

The 400 guests were advised to dress in “outdoorsy chic,” mainly because the parking area was a fair distance from the site. Golf carts, however, were there to transport those who needed a lift.

After enjoying cocktails, hors d’oevures and music by The Rivertones at the foot of the bridge, folks moved inside to be seated at two long tables set up parallel to each other on the bridge. Dinner, by Three Tomatoes, featured a locally sourced menu that began with filet of Colorado trout and chili corn salad served on a toasted corn husk and ended with apple tarts.

BJ Dyer and Guenther Vogt of Bouquets hauled in a ton of river rock to accent the weathered barn wood table runners that were also decorated with moss and arrangements of wildflowers placed in recycled glass bottles.

Study after study has shown that when it comes to charitable fundraisers, Denver has more per capita than any comparably sized city in the nation. Joanne Davidson has been covering them for The Denver Post since 1985, coming here from her native California where she'd spent the previous seven years as San Francisco bureau chief for U.S. News & World Report magazine.